Part 8

57. Stem-surface covered with distinct black or dark brown or white then darkening scales; spore-print clay-brown with or without a flush of cinnamon-pinkish brown Leccinum

Stem-surface covered completely or in part with a network or pattern of faint lines or pale yellow or red-rust but never black dots; spore-print olivaceous buff Boletus & related genera

(i) Agarics of woodlands and copses

(a) Mycorrhizal formers

~Leccinum scabrum~ (Fries) S. F. Gray

Birch rough stalks or Brown birch-bolete.

Cap: width 45-150 mm. Stem: length 70-200 mm; width 20-30 mm.

Description: Plate 1.

Cap: convex and becoming only slightly expanded at maturity, pale brown, tan or buff, soft, surface dry, but in wet weather becoming quite tacky, smooth or streaky-wrinkled and cap-margin not overhanging the tubes.

Stem: white, buff or greyish, roughened by scurfy scales which are minute, pale and arranged in irregular lines at the stem-apex, and enlarged and dark brown to blackish towards the base.

Tubes: depressed about the stem, white becoming yellowish brown at maturity, with small, white pores which become buff at maturity and bruise distinctly yellow-brown or pale pinkish brown when touched.

Flesh: watery, very soft in the cap lacking distinctive smell and either not changing on exposure to the air or only faintly becoming pinkish or pale peach-colour.

Spore-print: brown with flush of pinkish brown when freshly prepared.

Spores: very long, spindle-shaped, smooth, pale honey-coloured under the microscope and more than 14 µm in length (14-20 µm long × 5-6 µm broad).

Marginal cystidia: numerous and flask-shaped. Facial cystidia: sparse, similar to marginal cystidia.

Habitat & Distribution: Found in copses and woods containing birch trees, or even accompanying solitary birches.

General Information: This fungus is recognised by the pale brown cap, the white, unchanging or hardly changing flesh and the cap-margin not overhanging the tubes. There are several closely related fungi which also grow with birch trees but they need some experience in order to distinguish them. This fungus was formerly placed in the genus Boletus, indeed it will be found in many books under this name. Species of Leccinum are edible and considered delicacies in continental Europe. The majority can be separated from the other fleshy fungi with pores beneath the cap, i.e. boletes, by the black to brown scaly stem and rather long, elongate spores. The scales on the stem give rise to the common name ‘Rough stalks’ which is applied to this whole group of fungi.

Illustrations: F 39C; Hvass 253; LH 122; NB 155⁶; WD 89¹.

~Suillus grevillei~ (Klotzsch) Singer

Larch-bolete

Cap: width 30-100 mm. Stem: width 15-20 mm; length 50-70 mm.

Description: Plate 2.

Cap: convex or umbonate at first, later expanding and then becoming plano-convex, golden-yellow or rich orange-brown, very slimy because of the presence of a pale yellow sticky fluid.

Stem: apex reddish and dotted or ornamented with a fine network, cream-coloured about the centre because of the presence of a ring which soon collapses, ultimately appearing only as a pale yellow zone; below the ring the stem is yellowish or rusty brown, particularly when roughly handled.

Tubes: adnate to decurrent, deep yellow but becoming flushed wine-coloured on exposure to the air, with angular and small sulphur-yellow pores which become pale pinkish brown to lilaceous or pale wine-coloured when handled.

Flesh: with no distinctive smell, pale yellow immediately flushing lilaceous when exposed to the air, but finally becoming dingy red-brown, sometimes blue or green in the stem-base.

Spore-print: brown with distinct yellowish tint when freshly prepared.

Spores: long, ellipsoid, smooth and pale honey when under the microscope, less than 12 µm in length (8-11 µm long × 3-4 µm broad).